Curiosity Killed The Cat
by prettyflower863
Summary: There is serial killer running around Japan, killing innocents left and right while the police is left in the dust. Midorima and Akashi think they know who the elusive murderer is, Aomine is dead, Kuroko is hell-bent on revenge and Kagami is wondering where this all went wrong.
1. Prologue

_"Another dead body was found four days ago in Kyoto, 26 year old rising businessman Iwahara Kizuki. He was found in his apartment by his neighbour, stabbed multiple times with a sharp object. She reportedly-"_

Kuroko switched off the television, sighing. He didn't want to hear anymore of the news report on the horrific killings. Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kanagawa, Osaka, the list of the murders went on and on, killings in just these 5 prefectures. There was about 5 murders in every city each week, staying a week in one before moving on to the next.

It was either some kind of game the murderer was playing, or the work schedule they followed, this murderer had a job in which they had to move from these cities back and forth Kuroko concluded.

He flopped back on the sofa and groaned, lifting his hand in front of his eyes to shield them against the obscenely bright sunlight streaming through the glass sliding door. They'd been having ridiculous weather recently, an oppressive layer of heat seemed to hang in the air when the temperature reached over 35 degrees . But he didn't have to worry about the heat for the moment, because of new AC Akashi had generously installed for his 18th birthday. He wouldn't be going outside anyway, with the amount of paperwork he had to complete.

Kuroko eyed the stack of paper on the table in front of him, contemplating ditching it for lazing in bed, Aomine-style. While it did seem appealing, duty came first, and his duty was to sign and write comments all day. Unlike Aomine who's duty was to run around all day arresting criminals, which to Kuroko seemed better than the stacks of paperwork he had to work his way through.

Maybe he could-

Suddenly, his phone rang. He scrabbled around on the table for the phone, coming up with only paper and his keys.

An _d your gonna hear me r_ -

"Hello?"

Having finally located the phone behind the cushions, Kuroko clicked answer. He thought it was Kagami because of the ringtone, but it was strange because Kagami never called during his work hours. Unless there was an emergency.

"Kuroko turn on the TV."

"Kagami-kun what-"

"Just do it!" Kagami barked down the phone.

Blinking, Kuroko switched on the TV wondering if there was another murder. It was Tokyo's turn this week for the killings but they'd been sporadic lately rather than systematic like they usually were, one murder for each day of the week was the normal schedule.

The headline flashed across the screen, the giant black letters emblazoned on a background of police tape.

 _Police officer Aomine Daiki was found strangled to death in Todoroki Valley at 10:51 today, he was found by-_

The screen went black once more as Kuroko lowered the remote. Aomine-kun. His ex-light and darkness, the one to light the path for him and then to plunge it into darkness. Gone. He was never coming back. Gone! He barely felt his nails dig into his flesh, leaving red crescents in his palm.

"Kuroko?" The static of Kagami's voice echoed in the otherwise dead silence in the room.

"I think," he spoke softly but with deadly menace, "that I'll be working extra hours at the police station today, to try and find out who exactly is this murderer."

"Listen, Kuroko don't do anything stupid, there already loads of officers working on this case that are ranked higher than you in the station. Just let them catch the criminal."

Kuroko swept the paperwork off his table and reached for his keys, shrugging on his coat and depositing them in the coat pocket.

"I was fine with doing that until they murdered my best friend, Kagami-kun. That was unforgivable."

He exited the house, locking the door behind him.

"... Kuroko? Hello? Oi, I thought I was your best friend!"


	2. Chapter 1

Kise sighed as he looked at the clock, realising it was 4 a.m. , not 7 a.m. like he thought it was when he shuffled to the bathroom to get ready. There were a few hours left until he had to start getting ready, so he collapsed back into bed. Jetlag was a being a bitch to Kise since he returned from Germany yesterday and messed up his entire sleep schedule.

"This is all Akashicchi's fault!" Kise grumbled to himself, thinking back to when he accepted Akashi's offer to become his personal pilot.

Flying private helicopters and jets was always Kise's childhood dream, but what he didn't expect as a child was to have an employer like Akashi who woke up him up at ungodly hours to fly him halfway across the country. Like on Sunday when he called him at 5 a.m and said that he wanted to go to Germany for some family reunion, or something like that, he wasn't really listening.

Although it wasn't really Akashi's fault, he had a lot of business to attend to everywhere- the Akashi family had their headquarters in Kyoto but they had other branches all over Japan which meant a lot of flying for Kise, and a lot of time missed off work. And his manager always made him make up for the time off with extra shoots.

PING!

Speak of the devil. He flipped himself onto his back and clumsily reached out his hand onto the dresser, searching for his phone and knocking a good amount of stuff off the dresser before his fingers closed around the cold plastic of the phone.

"Come... to... the..." Kise narrowed his eyes as he struggled to make out the words of the text in near darkness. "Place... where... the... last... photo... shoot... was... held.

"Dammit Shurayuke-san!" Kise cursed his manager

%&%&%&%

"PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON!"

Kuroko didn't pause as he made his way up the stairs to Kagami's apartment, figuring that Alex had 'miraculously' appeared in his bed again, naked as usual. Kagami still didn't understand how Alex got into the apartment since he always locked the door at night, but Kuroko suspected it had something to do with the painfully obvious spare key lying behind the plant pot, which he now used to open the locked door.

"Kagami-kun?"

"AND I DON'T CARE IF-" Kagami stopped mid-rant, turning to face the new arrival who was neatly putting his shoes by the entrance.

"Ah Kuroko." He dropped the fistfuls of clothes he was holding and chucked then at Alex before hurrying over. "Are you okay? You weren't answering my calls yesterday, I'm really sorry I broke the news to you so suddenly last night, but I just saw it and thought you needed to know."

"No, it's okay, I'm glad you informed me." Kuroko smiled to reassure Kagami and took a sheaf of papers out his bag setting them on the table. "I apologise, but the reason I wasn't returning your calls was because I was working at night in the station, investigating Aomine's death. And I found some important information, look." He tapped the bold heading on the front page of the stack with his finger, and watched Kagami's mouth turn in into an 'oh'of surprise.

"Aomine Daiki, mission report on Prefecture Case? He worked on the Prefecture Case?"

"It seems so." Kuroko nodded.

"Oi Kagami can I eat the peanut butter?" Alex yelled from the kitchen, and took a spoonful anyway without waiting for a response. "Thanks!"

Kagami sighed and pinched his nose, then yelled back at her not to finish it all when he saw the rate she was consuming the peanut butter at.

He came in to the kitchen himself to save the peanut butter when she showed no signs of stopping, but she was rescued by the phone.

Kagami growled and snatched the phone from the cradle, glaring at Alex who was washing the now empty jar.

"Hello? Is this Kagami?"

"Yes this is Kagami... Is that Tadashi?"

"Yeah, just calling in to see if you're okay and to wish you well. It really sucks not having your here at the fire station so I hope you recover from the food poisoning! Get better soon, okay?"

CLICK.

" ...Food poisoning?" Kagami repeated. "Food poisoning!"

He turned to Kuroko and lifted him up by his shirt. "You. What did you do?"

"I cleared your schedule for this week by calling in at your work and telling them you have food poisoning." Kuroko admitted.

"Why? Is there something you need me to help you with this week or something?" Kagami let him down and removed his hand.

Kuroko smiled and collected his papers.

"It's precisely that. You're going to help me with my investigation."

"WHAT?"

%&%&%&%

"Why are we at the police station?" Kagami asked, looking down at Kuroko. "I thought we were going to go interrogate people."

Kuroko shook his head at Kagami as he mounted the entrance steps. "Kagami-kun we're not going to go interrogate people, we're just going to ask them some questions." He explained. "And we're at the police station because I need a few files on the Prefecture Case and probably Aomine's file as well. The problem is, I'm not allowed that kind of information so I'm going to have to steal it from the archives and then sneak it back."

Kagami's eyes widened as Kuroko spoke. He was normally the moral compass for the group, and to see him suggesting such a thing was incomprehensible. But, looking at the resolve in his eyes he relented and agreed to follow whatever plan Kuroko had in mind. Even though it would probably get them arrested, but screw that.

"Wait a minute." Kagami frowned as a thought occurred to him. "How are we going to steal the files without someone catching us? I mean there's always someone at the station, 24hrs a day so it'll never be empty."

"That's true." Kuroko acknowledged. "But I can use my lack of presence to enter the archives, the person working their shift wont even notice me. I think they don't notice me anyway, that's why I was able to get that little piece of information I showed you earlier from the head of force's desk yesterday." He put his hand on the doorknob.

"Ignoring the fact that you took papers from the head of force's desk- which we'll address later, they might not notice you, but they sure as hell will notice me!" He fretted.

"That's why you're going to be my distraction. I'm going to go to the archives while you provide the distraction, but you need to be careful, there's a man in there with Hawkeye, Keinichi Matsuda. He must be the only person in the force who knows that I work there."

"But-"

"Now go." Kuroko pushed the doors open and shoved Kagami in, before slipping in himself.

%&%&%&%

Keinichi Matsuda hated to get involved in things. He would be the first man to admit that he was downright lazy, and that was the reason he probably wouldn't get that far up the ranks. But he didn't mind, because all he had to do at his current rank was do paperwork, and he rarely get called out on cases which he was fine with, because at the end of the day he could just generously distribute his work onto the new recruits desk, and they would be none the wiser.

That's why, when he saw the blue-haired man he'd seen hanging around with Aomine Daiki sneak into the archives, he pretended not to notice and engaged in a remarkably one-sided conversation with the red-haired man standing in front of him, who was doing a pitiful job at distracting him.

%&%&%&

Kuroko flicked on the lamp as he wearily sat down in the chair, Kagami right behind him. He had meant to start looking at the files straight after he retrieved them but he'd been delayed by an extremely long Skype call with his parents, gushing about Australia. After he finally finished up, he went up to his room with Kagami, sitting down at his desk while Kagami loomed over him.

"Okay, we'll start with Aomine-kun's file and see if it mentions anything about the Prefecture Case." Kuroko suggested, and took the file out his sports bag.

Kagami watched, confused as to why he put the file there but decided not to question it. Instead he questioned why Kuroko didn't just look at Aomine's mission report if he wanted to discover more about his involvement in the case, to which Kuroko answered that Aomine never put detail or effort into his reports, they always had the bare minimum of writing that was scrawled messily across the page. That made a lot more sense to Kagami.

"Now let's see." Kuroko flicked through the pages, eyes searching for any mention of the Prefecture Case.

"Oi, Kuroko. Pass one of the files, I'll help you look through it." Kagami suggested.

"It's fine, I'll get through it." The shadow answered, a hard edge to his tone. Figuring the tone was due to the lack of sleep, he shrugged and sat down on the floor.

After a good ten minutes- in which Kagami retired to the bed claiming that he couldn't read the words at the speed Kuroko was going at, and promptly fell asleep only to be jabbed awake by his shadow. He stayed awake after that.

Kuroko finally stopped as he found the details of Aomine in the case, and called Kagami over to the desk. He rolled off the bed and shuffled his way to the desk, only hurrying up when Kuroko sent him a death glare. "Look." Kuroko underlined the sentence with his finger and moved the file closer to Kagami so that he could read it. "It says that Aomine-kun did some unofficial investigating on the case in his own time, which the higher-ups knew, and approved of. He was on a bodyguard mission abroad in Europe from Sunday to Wednesday and apparently found out some very important information about the Prefecture Case, because as soon as he got off the flight back to Japan he texted the Head of Force, Harasawa-san that he needed to tell him something urgent about the case. But the killer silenced him before he could pass on the information."

"So Aomine knew who the murderer was?" Kagami asked.

"Most probably."

"... So what do we do now? He asked, turning to look at Kuroko.

"We find out if Aomine-kun told anyone about who the killer was before he was murdered, or any important information he may have discovered." Kuroko decided. "My guess is that he told Momoi something that could help us figure out the circumstances of Aomine's death, so we're going to visit her after we take a look at the Prefecture Case file."

Kagami groaned and collapsed back on to the bed, muttering something about waking him up when it was over.

Neither of them noticed the face peering intently into the window, watching them.

%&%&%&%

Midorima frowned at the nurse's report, furrowing his brows. This was strange, very strange indeed. According to Nurse Shizune, medical equipment had been disappearing regularly since yesterday, and now the nurses were short on supplies. Who would steal equipment from a hospital when they could simply just go to the hospital themselves to be treated? It just didn't make any sense. The only reason he could think of to reason why somebody would want avoid directly coming to the hospital was a phobia of hospital's/ needles or basically any instruments that doctors used to treat patients. On the other hand the person could be a fugitive that was injured and obviously couldn't just stroll through the hospital doors. But that theory was very unlikely, and it was probably the former. However, then that person would have to have ninja-like stealth skills, to sneak in to the supplies cupboard with nurses constantly swimming in and out of there.

Midorima sighed, putting the report to one side. It would have to take a back-seat for now, he was already too preoccupied to deal with this brand new mystery that had presented itself. He would Momoi, who was Head Nurse in his hospital on the case, with her information gathering skills she would have the culprit in a matter of hours.

While she was dealing with that, he would finally give in to his urge and conduct some research on the other, more important mystery at hand. 

**So who do you guys think the murderer is? Preview for the next chapter:**

 **Being a doctor, Midorima spent a good amount of his life researching, and as such was quite adept at the art. Although, only he considered it an art, to others it was merely a nuisance. Nevertheless it had helped him greatly many times before in times of need, so he had no doubt that if he dug deep enough into the web of secrets that was the internet, he would find something.**

 **Something, anything would do. A fact that would disprove the theory forming inside his head. It had been there for weeks, but he ignored the little niggling in the back of his head and firmly told himself to believe in his former teammate more, to believe that he wouldn't do this. There wasn't even any evidence to support it with, just a foreboding sense of conviction.**

 **Well, then it must not be true. Right?**

 **Still, he couldn't get rid of the inconceivable fear that he might be right, so that night he decided to investigate the case online, to prove the theory wrong and he would finally be able to have a good night's sleep.**

 **So that night he sat down at his laptop, called Akashi, discussed the case with him and begun researching.**

 **Midorima leaned forward, his nose almost touching the computer screen. "It can't be..."**

 **He clicked on the article, his eyes growing wider with every word he processed.**

 ** _Officer Aomine Daiki... Found in Todoraki Valley... Body missing... Murders started on 14th... 2015_**

 **"No..." He breathed. " _He'_ s killing everyone?"**

 **He didn't understand. Sure Midorima never been the closest to him, but he'd think he would have known if his fellow teammate had the potential to be a mass murderer.**

 **Well.**

 **Aomine was an emotional hurricane of angst and depression, Murasakibara was borderline murderous when his precious maibou was taken from him, Miyaji was violent when provoked and Haizaki... Well he didn't even need an explanation.**


	3. Chapter 2

Being a doctor, Midorima spent a good amount of his life researching, and as such was quite adept at the art. Although, only he considered it an art, to others it was merely a nuisance. Nevertheless it had helped him greatly many times before in times of need, so he had no doubt that if he dug deep enough into the web of secrets that was the internet, he would find something.

Something, anything would do. A fact that would disprove the theory forming inside his head. It had been there for weeks, but he ignored the little niggling in the back of his head and firmly told himself to believe in his former teammate more, to believe that he wouldn't do this. There wasn't even any evidence to support it with, just a foreboding sense of conviction.

Well, then it must not be true. Right?

Still, he couldn't get rid of the inconceivable fear that he might be right, so that night he decided to investigate the case online, to prove the theory wrong and he would finally be able to have a good night's sleep.

So that night he sat down at his laptop, called Akashi, discussed the case with him and begun researching.

Midorima leaned forward, his nose almost touching the computer screen. "It can't be..."

He clicked on the article, his eyes growing wider with every word he processed.

 _Officer Aomine Daiki... Found in Todoraki Valley... Body missing... Murders started on 14th... 2015_

"No..." He breathed. " _He'_ s killing everyone?"

He didn't understand. Sure Midorima never been the closest to him, but he'd think he would have known if his fellow teammate had the potential to be a mass murderer.

Well.

Aomine was an emotional hurricane of angst and depression, Murasakibara was borderline murderous when his precious maibou was taken from him, Miyaji was violent when provoked and Haizaki... Well he didn't even need an explanation.

"Maybe I really _should_ have followed through with my threat of sending them to therapy." Midorima reflected.

He lifted his phone to his ear and took it off hold. "Akashi?"

#

Akashi frowned at the door, mentally punishing it for standing in his way. How dare it look down on him, mocking him with its glass windows, taunting him by showing him the house but not letting him in. He would teach this unscrupulous piece of wood-

"Akashi? Why are you glaring at my door?"

He turned and stepped forward to take one of the grocery bags, but she waved him away. "It's okay, I can manage." He took one anyway to be courteous, to which she responded to with a half-hearted glare.

She was tired he noted, her face was pale and lacking the usual shine that he had come to associate it with. She hadn't been looking after herself recently, since Aomine's death. He would have to add 'persuade stubborn ex-manager to get over her best friend's death' to his already lengthy to do list. Akashi never really got to the bottom of his to-do lists, but he would be sure to tick this one off the list. Or send Kuroko to do it, both worked just as well as the other. Maybe seeing his ridiculous behead would cheer her up. But first, he had business to conduct.

He stepped inside the apartment, frowning as they made their way to the kitchen. Clothes were strewn messily over the furniture, giving it a disorderly air when in reality Momoi was the most systematic person he'd had the pleasure of meeting. (Shintarou, although rather orderly himself did not count as he wasn't really a pleasure to meet- in Akashi's mind at least.) It was apparent that Daiki used to be a regular visitor at the apartment until he met his... _unfortunate_ demise. The red-haired businessman set the bag on the counter and began removing the items from the bag.

"So, uh... Akashi I haven't seen you since the last Miracles get together. How are you? Did you visit me for a particular reason, or..." Her voice trailed off as Akashi turned around, facing her.

Momoi hastily spun around, so her back was to Akashi again.

"No particular reason. I just wanted to confirm something." He explained, opening the cupboard. "I actually wanted to ask you a few questions." He slammed the cupboard shut with a bang, smirking when she jumped.

"A few questions..."

"Yes. Just a few questions. You see, a little birdie informed me that Aomine told you something. Something very important."

Her grip on the tomato tin tightened.

"What do you mean?"

Her voice was high, and her muscles were tensing. She was hiding something.

"You know something about the Prefecture Case don't you." He accused.

The sharp edges of the tin were cutting into her hand, making small round marks as he stalked towards her.

"You know something you're not supposed to know. You know who the murderer is. "

The tin fell, bouncing slightly off the linoleum floor before rolling away. He leaned closer, backing her up against the counter.

"Don't you Momoi. You and I both know exactly who it is, the person that's standing in this very apartment is the killer."

#

"Dammit Kuroko, there are speed limits for a reason!" Kagami complained slamming the car door shut as he exited the car. " You don't have to drive like a man possessed, Momoi's not going anywhere!"

"I mean, sure the cops can't actually see the car, ( "How did your misdirection even extend to your car?") but, still it's dangerous-"

He finally stopped ranting when he looked down at his shadow, who looked as pale as a ghost and was trembling slightly. "Kuroko?... What- what are you looking at? Are you okay?"

"No... not again." Kuroko's eyes were wide in horror as he took in the dreadful scene.

He slowly turned, hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was, what had gotten Kuroko in this state. Kagami bit his lip as he stared at the police cars and ambulances outside the apartment. "Shit. Shit. Okay, okay maybe this isn't as bad as it seems. Maybe she just got injured!"

"If she was just injured why would the police and investigators be here?" Kuroko asked dully as Kagami dragged him along.

"I don't know!"

Kagami made a beeline for Akashi, who was standing in front of the police tape, observing the scene. He was muttering under his breath, frowning.

"So damn loyal...had to grab the damn knife... got away in the end... find them next time-"

"Oi, Akashi!"

The red-head in question jumped slightly as Kagami shouted in his ear, and stepped away from the police tape, composing himself.

"Kagami Taiga. I see your manners are still as lacking as all our previous encounters." He answered smoothly. "To what do I owe the displeasure?"

"Oh, can it." Kagami snapped. "What happened to Momoi?"

Akashi's eyes darkened at the mention of her name and he turned back to the tape.

"If you really want to know, she's dead. Suicide."

"Suicide? She never even seemed depressed! Was it because of Aomine or-" Kagami broke off as Akashi started walking away, his tailor-made shoes crunching on the gravel.

"Oi! Where are you going? I still have questions to ask you!" He shouted.

"I have no interest in talking about this any further." He explained. "If you really want to solve this case, speak to Midorima." And with that he left Kagami with a dazed Kuroko and an address that he had no idea when was placed in his pocket.

Akashi walked away, sighing. He'd missed his chance, but he would try again. He had to be close by, and he would probably leave a blood trail behind that could be followed in any case.

#

The stranger collapsed in the alley, taking in ragged breaths. His stomach still hadn't healed and he was forced to run from his 'hideout', quickly and hadn't been able to take his medicine with him. He hissed as he forced himself back onto his feet and started stumbling towards the exit.

"Damn... midget, how the hell did he know?" He complained. "Still, I shouldn't be surprised, Akashi was always sharp... but tracing that murder back to me, I wonder how he did that. It couldn't have been him alone, someone must have helped him."

"You're right about that." A voice echoed through the alley, stopping the stranger in his tracks.

The man stepped inside the alley, blocking the light and observed the bleeding man with apathy. "Somebody did help me, Midorima to be exact. We had to illegally steal some files, threaten a few people here and there, but it was worth it in the end. I'm going to catch you, and put a stop to all these pitiful murders." He paused. "But for now, I'm going to let you go. There's someone I owe a debt to that would probably want you alive. For now. But after you talk to them you're dead." The man promised.

"Akashi..."

#  
Café Exotic.

Midorima sighed. It wasn't the type of place he normally visited, but this case was different. He was hot, tired and hungry, and didn't really care where he went at this point as long as he sat down. Chasing a hyperactive child of the devil was hard work he learned, thinking of his sore feet. Just how his angel of a sister managed to sire that she-devil was beyond him.

He opened the door, eyes searching for an empty spot by a window. He'd finally escaped the clutches of his niece and retreated far away from the young girl bouncing around Tokyo, at last having avoided her gaze. Midorima wasn't anxious to get back to her and kept watch through the glass window for the pink-haired monster.

He recieved odd looks when he nearly jumped out of his seat when the waiter came, composing himself when he realised that the pink hair on her head was attached to a completely different head than the one he was looking out for. To keep himself from boredom, Midorima ordered the first thing he saw on the drinks menu, and waited impatiently until it arrived.

The coffee was bland and tasteless, there was nothing exotic about mixture. All it served to do was increase Midorima's need to urinate which he would have preferred to hold in and continue to keep watch. However, in the end the need got the better of him and he hurried to the toilet, flinging the bathroom door open as he entered.

There was a slight problem that Midorima noticed as he entered.

There was already a man standing at the sink, minding his own business, washing his hands.

That in itself wasn't the problem. The problem was the man himself.

The murderer. The killer.

The biggest serial killer Japan has ever seen. He was standing in front him, casually washing his hands.

"Yo."

"You!" Midorima raised a shaking finger to point at the man now leaning against the sink.

"Yes." The man answered. "Me."

"Is that really you?"

His hair was longer, his eyes gaunt. Hollow cheekbones, and dried blood across his shirt, bandages around his torso. He was the same, but he was different.

Although he had the wig and foundation there was no doubt about it. It wa _s him._

 **Ooh... the plot thickens! Who do you think is the highly-profiled serial killer?**

 **Preview for the next chapter:**

 _"Oh that's horrible!" She cooed_ _. "Do you want to tell us about the day you found the body?"_

 _He bit his lip, thinking._

 _"Well, I was walking with my girlfriend, Akina through Todoroki, when we decided to go through one of the trails in the woods. The woods were right next to the valley, and normally had quite a lot people walking through it so we didn't think twice before going to the woods. " He took a deep breath, before continuing. "We were at the start of the trail when we found the body. Akina fainted when she saw the corpse, and I had to put her to one side while I checked for the body for a pulse. There was none. I'm pretty sure he bled to death before we came, because_ _he was lying in a pool of blood, with a few bandages on his stomach that were completely soaked with the liquid. We actually knew who he was, Officer Aomine Daiki since we'd seen him patrolling around that area before and we read his name tag."_

 _"Ah." The reporter hummed in understanding. "So the body disappeared after you went to call the police didn't it?"_

 _"Yes, I went to the main area of Todoroki Valley and I got some medical help from a doctor who was on holiday that managed to wake up Akina up. While he was waking her up, I was calling the emergency number, and the police came 2 hours later."_

 _"Oh, I see. Thank you so much for participating in this interview, but before you leave_ w _e have one more question for you! Why do you think the Prefecture Case killer is killing all these people?"_

 _"That's... a hard question. I think the killer might be insane. Maybe they're clinically insane and kill people for the hell of it or something. Maybe something like that."_


	4. Chapter 3

**_This chapter is dedicated to Anubissaga4 and Jackie Wepps for the amazing words of support!_**

 _"_ We'r _e here today with Takeshi Ryou at Todoroki Valley, the site of the latest murder in the Prefecture Case._

 _" Takeshi-san, nice to meet you! How are you? " The reporter beamed._

 _"I'm good, thank you." He replied, nervously fidgeting._

 _"Good, good. So seeing the dead body didn't affect you at all? You're perfectly fine, just going about your everyday life like everything's normal?" The reporter questioned, leaning towards Takeshi and pushing her microphone towards him._

 _"Well I can't pretend that it didn't affect me at all, sometimes I get nightmares about it, just seeing his blank face, staring up at me..."_

 _"Oh that's horrible!" She cooed. "Do you want to tell us about the day you found the body?"_

 _He bit his lip, thinking._

 _"Well, I was walking with my girlfriend, Akina through Todoroki, when we decided to go through one of the trails in the woods. The woods were right next to the valley, and normally had quite a lot people walking through it so we didn't think twice before going to the woods. " He took a deep breath, before continuing. "We were at the start of the trail when we found the body. Akina fainted when she saw the corpse, and I had to put her to one side while I checked for the body for a pulse. There was none. I'm pretty sure he bled to death before we came, because he was lying in a pool of blood, with a few bandages on his stomach that were completely soaked with the liquid. We actually knew who he was, Officer Aomine Daiki since we'd seen him patrolling around that area before and we read his name tag."_

 _"Ah." The reporter hummed in understanding. "So the body disappeared after you went to call the police didn't it?"_

 _"Yes, I went to the main area of Todoroki Valley and I got some medical help from a doctor who was on holiday that managed to wake up Akina up. While he was waking her up, I was calling the emergency number, and the police came 2 hours later."_

 _"Oh, I see. Thank you so much for participating in this interview, but before you leave_ w _e have one more question for you! Why do you think the Prefecture Case killer is killing all these people?"_

 _"That's... a hard question. I think the killer might be insane. Maybe they're clinically insane and kill people for the hell of it or something. Maybe something like that."_

Kuroko let the TV blare in the background as he made made fried eggs, listening intently to the interview. Clinically insane huh? Takeshi might just be on to something. He was next on his list of people to interview, although with all the media coverage he was getting now it would be hard to actually get him alone.

Kagami had gone to Midorima's apartment to interview the doctor after dropping the shadow home with Kuroko's car, and because he drove Kuroko's car he had to walk home to his house, shower and change, before driving his own car to Midorima's apartment.

It was a rather long process, but he should be done interviewing Midorima by now, Kuroko thought, looking up at the clock.

He turned the stove off and settled down with his phone, dialling Kagami's number.

 _'... Hello?'_

"Kagami-kun, have you finished the interview yet?"

 _'No, I took a really long shower so I've only just arrived at his apartment. It smells really weird... almost like... give me one second I need to check something.'_

There was a long moment of silence before Kagami's voice returned on the line.

' _What the- ... Kuroko get your ass over here now, and call 119! NOW!'_

 _#_

"Aomine!" Midorima hissed, fists clenched in anger. "What are you doing here nanodayo? Coming to kill some more people?"

Aomine snorted, taking his wig off. "Nice to see you too Midorima. It's been a while."

"Well I was rather hoping I wouldn't see you again at all at least until you were safely behind bars." He retorted. "I don't understand how you even made it halfway across Tokyo in that half-dead state in any case, you should've bled to death by now."

"Nah these bandages don't let much past them, she wrapped them around pretty tight."

"She?" Midorima questioned, eyes narrowing. It seemed that there was an accomplice behind the scenes that was helping Aomine, providing him with medical care. But who would- Oh. Oh. Now it made sense.

"Well Sherlock-Fucking-Homes for someone who's meant to be smart you're a bit slow sometimes nanodayo." Aomine mocked Midorima's verbal tic.

Midorima bristled in controlled rage. "I _have_ figured out what happened in Todoroki Valley, I'm not an idiot nanodayo. After your bodyguard mission with Akashi you got hurt and asked Momoi to come pick you up at Todoroki Valley, but before she arrived a young couple found you, dead on the wood trails. Just minutes after, she found you and performed CPR/mouth to mouth on you, getting your heart beating again. Then Momoi stole supplies from my hospital where she works as a nurse and took them to her house where she was keeping you and treated your blood loss and stabilised your condition. Correct?" He explained, angered by Aomine's disregard for his deductive skills.

"And exactly how long did it take you to realise that? I mean the medical equipment stopped disappearing right after Momoi's death."

"I was just a tiny bit preoccupied with trying to put my Teiko teammate behind bars and administering justice," He defended indignantly, "Speaking of which, give me one reason why I shouldn't call 119 right now and tell them all about you and your deeds."

Aomine's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"I'm not the one you should be putting behind bars, you think you've got it all figured when in reality-" Aomine was cut off by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"Uncle? Mama said to check if you were in here, you know we spent so long trying to find we had to go to like, the other side of Tokyo and we only found you cause we saw you by the window! So, are you in here? If you're not that's kind of embarrassing cause then I've been talking to the door the entire time."

"Oh?" Aomine smirked at Midorima's horrified expression. "Who's that _Uncle_?"

"Chizuru? Chizuru listen to me, go back to for mother and tell her that uncle is in the toilet, go right now and tell her that." Midorima glanced worriedly at Aomine, who was still holding that infuriating smirk.

"Mama's buying something." Came the muffled reply. "She said she just wanted to buy some coffee or something."

"Just go and tell her that I'm coming!" Midorima barked.

"Now now, Midorima," Aomine drawled, "Don't be so hard on the poor child, if her mother's busy why don't we keep her company. "

He rushed to the door, dodging Midorima's lunge, and swept Chizuru up into his arms, firmly shutting the door behind him.

Big blue eyes looked up at him in surprise, blinking in curiosity. "Are you uncle's friend?" She asked.

"Absolutely not, Aomine drop her."

"Aw Midorima you wound me." The doctor rushed at him, only to be sidestepped from at the last second.

"I wish I could wound you." Midorima spat.

"Hmm, well consider your niece consolation for my horrible wound then."

"What?" Midorima spluttered. "Get consolation from the person who actually stabbed you!"

"I don't know his name! We were in the middle of the return flight and the dude just got up and stabbed me! Well, he didn't mean to stab _m_ e, his target was Akashi but I had to take the damn blade being his bodyguard. Last time I agree to a bodyguard job." Aomine grumbled, spinning Chizuru around as Midorima made a grab for her. She started sniffling, wondering why her uncle was so worried.

"I mean, it was bad enough that Kise had to go to some photo shoot halfway through the trip so he flew back in the private jet, leaving us to go in the public aeroplane because Akashi didn't want to 'impose' on his relatives by borrowing their private aeroplane. Then to put the cherry on the cake some random guy got up and stabbed me in the first class."

Aomine finished his rant and looked down at his former teammate. He was standing hunched before him, hands on his knees panting with exertion of trying to catch Aomine.

"Oi Midorima, let's make a deal."

He looked up.

"How about this; you walk out of here with Chizuru, and pretend that nothing ever happened, you will not tell anybody about this incident... and you'll tell me where Kuroko lives. Or else."

"Or else what?"

Aomine looked down at the pink mop of hair in his arms who was now fighting to get to Midorima, having figured out that something was wrong.

"Sweetie, do you know what your address is?" He asked.

"W-will you let me go if I tell you?"

He nodded coaxingly and Midorima shouted. "No Chizuru don't-"

"S-sixty four Akiye Road."

Aomine smirked and tripped Midorima up as he rushed towards him. "Well there we are. Now I know where you live, where your sister and niece lives and just about all of your friends. Which of them will you choose to die? That is of course if you don't accept my offer."

Midorima fell to the ground with a thud, smacking his head against the linoleum floor as his glasses shattered. Aomine was a coward. A bloody coward.

He blindly reached among the pieces of glass for his glasses, giving up in dismay in the realisation that they were broken beyond repair. Grabbing the edge of the sink, he slowly got back up onto his feet.

Aomine was a bloody coward. But so was he.

Midorima held out his arms and with a sigh Aomine dropped Chizuru into his waiting arms.

"Good. Now tell me where Kuroko lives and you can walk away like this never happened." Aomine reassured.

Midorima stepped back, increasing the distance between the two carefully. He may be a coward. But he wasn't that much of a coward.

"Never."

He ran for the door, dodging the knife in Aomine's hand and swung the door open, wincing when the pieces of glass in his hand cut deeper into his skin.

Aomine cursed as the door swung shut closed in front of him and threw the knife into the door. Now how was he supposed to find Kuroko? He could always follow through with his threats to Midorima as payback, but was the point of that? That's not what he questioned Midorima for.

He pulled his wig back on and pocketed his knife. He would have to find out where Kuroko lived a different way it seemed.

#

 _"I have no interest in talking about this any further." Akashi explained. "If you really want to solve this case, speak to Midorima."_

 _S_ o both Midorima and Akashi know who the murderer is, Kuroko recalled, hands tightening slowly on the steering wheel. That was not a memory that he particularly enjoyed to bring up for various reasons, but it was necessary to do so if he wanted his plan to succeed. He needed every last bit of information he could get to solve the mystery of Aomine's murder.  
Kuroko was not a genius like Midorima and Akashi but he was scarily observant and based his plans around the information that he had gathered to trap his opponents. He stopped the car in front of Midorima's apartment, narrowly avoiding Kagami who was sitting on the street corner as he parked.

"Oi Kuroko!" Kagami cried indignantly. "I'd like to live thank you very much!"

Kuroko sighed, stepping out the car. "I'm sorry Kagami-kun, I was trying to hurry here as fast as I could. You sounded quite frantic in the phone call." He explained, brushing past Kagami.

"Yeah well, it was an emergency. But even if it's an emergency, I don't expect you to drive close enough to my face that I could smell your car! No one should ever be close enough to smell your car!"

"Is that an insult to my car? I can assure you it smells quite wonderful."

"That's not the point here Kuroko." Kagami groaned. "Speaking of which, where's the police?"

"Hm?" Kuroko innocently fiddled with his gloves. "I didn't call the police."

Kagami took a second to process what Kuroko had said before jumping at him. "You idiot, why didn't you call them?"

Kuroko jumped out the way of the enraged fireman. "I wanted to check out the crime scene before they arrived. As soon as I've seen it I'll call the police."

"You'll call them right after you see it right?" Kagami instructed. "And how did you know there was a crime scene?"

Kuroko rolled his eyes. "Logic."

Kagami frowned but didn't question it further. "And why are you dressed like you're here to murder someone?"

He followed Kuroko into the apartment, awaiting the shadow's answer. Kuroko surreptitiously fingered the dagger on his belt and glanced down as his attire. Gloves and black clothes. That wasn't overly suspicious was it? Maybe he should have gone with something else Kuroko reflected. Well, it was too late now.

"Self defence." He answered shortly, walking up the stairs. "In case there's something dangerous here."

The sharp, slightly tangy scent of blood filled his nose as he reached the top step. "Kagami-kun? Are you coming?"

Kagami was still standing at the foot of the stairs, frowning. "I... Kuroko- "

He was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. The shrill noise reverberated around the otherwise silent house until Kagami irritably yanked the door open.

"Who the hell- Akashi?"

"Kagami, Kuroko, I believe you have a situation that needs dealing with." Akashi explained his appearance, stepping into the apartment.

"How did you-"

"I called him." Kuroko explained, watching their exchange. "I believed we might need some back up."

Akashi smirked, walking towards the stairs. "Well it's not often that Tetsuya asks for my help so of course I rushed here as fast as I could."

"I called you to come about half an hour before I left, and you still arrived after me." Kuroko deadpanned.

"Details, details." Akashi waved it off. "Anyway, what's the situation?"

Kuroko inclined his head. "Follow me."

Akashi left his things in the TV room before joining Kuroko upstairs, leaving Kagami downstairs alone.

"Um guys I... Guys? They left me didn't they. I guess I'll make coffee or something." He asked the empty room. "Yeah, coffee it is."

With that he left in search of the kitchen, trying to remember what he had been about to say to Kuroko before Akashi had arrived.

#

Akashi slowly opened the door adjacent to the stairs, Kuroko trailing behind. "How did you know it was this room?" Akashi asked, stepping inside.

"The smell was strongest here." Kuroko entered after Akashi, closing the door behind him. "The smell of blood."

"The unbearable stench would be enough to lead you here anyway."

Kuroko hummed in agreement, leaning against the door. "It smells like a dead body."

"It probably is a dead body. Look." Akashi pointed towards the wall.

The normally pristine, manilla wall was stained red with blood, the high arches and low curves of the liquid forming a barely legible sentence on the wall.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Akashi breathed. "Why would someone do this?"

"To send a message. Someone didn't want Midorima interfering in their business." Kuroko explained walking towards the bed. He peered underneath it before reaching a hand out and dragging the body out from under the message.

Akashi's eyes widened in horror as Kuroko lifted the body onto the bed. "If the message was for Midorima, was the body drained of blood for the sole purpose of creating this message?"

"Probably." Kuroko answered. "That would explain all the blood under the bed." He adjusted his belt.

Akashi walked over to him, examining the body. "He looks like he was run over." He turned the body over, running a finger over the crushed face, half of the face was grotesquely flattened, parts of the features crushed beyond recognition.

He turned to Kuroko. "What do you think?"

Kuroko bit his lip, turning to face Akashi. Suddenly, he leaned forward and enveloped Akashi into a hug, wrapping his arms around the business man's back. "Akashi-kun... This is sick."

He awkwardly patted the shadow's back, trying to extricate himself from his arms. "Ah... Yes just breathe, it's okay."

Kuroko took a deep breath. "... Akashi-kun? I'm sorry."

"What, Kuroko why are you- "

Kuroko dug the dagger into Akashi's back, twisting it. "This had to be done."

Akashi fell to the floor with a thud and Kagami called up, asking if everything was alright.

"Yes Kagami-kun, we're fine." He called down, kicking the body underneath the bed.

"Alright, be careful." Kagami walked away from the stairs confusedly. He could have sworn he had heard somebody fall. Whatever, maybe Kuroko tripped or something. Speaking of Kuroko, he'd finally figured out what he'd wanted to ask him.

Why his car had smelled like- He walked into the kitchen, grabbing the two mugs and exiting the room again. It smelled like- he trotted upstairs, trying not to spill the coffee. It smelled like- Kuroko came out the bedroom with Akashi's limp body in his hands. Why his car had smelled like blood.

The mugs smashed against the floor, the porcelain pieces flying in the air.

"Kuroko?" 

**AN: Mwahaha bet none of you saw that coming!**


	5. Chapter 4

_-Momoi_  
 _Dai-chan 14:17_

 _-Momoi answer me_  
 _Dai-chan 14:18_

 _-Momoi pick up the damn phone_  
 _Dai-chan 14:20_

 **-I was in the shower, what happened**  
 **Satsuki 14:23**

 _-I need help_  
 _Dai-chan 14:23_

 **-Are you in danger? Tell me what happened**  
 **Satsuki 14:24**

- _I met Iwahara Kizuki's cousin in Germany and he told me about his cousin's murder._  
 _Dai-chan 14:25_

 **-What did he say and why do you need help?**  
 **Satsuki 14:25**

 **-Hello**  
 **Satsuki 14:26**

 **-Hellloooo**  
 **Satsuki 14:27**

 _-I got stabbed_  
 _Dai-chan 14:28_

 **-What**  
 **Satsuki 14:28**

 **-Are you okay? Where are you?**  
 **Satsuki 14:28**

 _-I was stabbed on the plane back to Japan by some guy that wanted to kill Akashi and now we're off the plane._  
 _Dai-chan 14:30_

 **-Where are you**  
 **Satsuki 14:30**

 _-I'm not sure I kind of just wandered into this nature reserve place_  
 _Dai-chan 14:31_

 _-The sign says Todoroki Valley_  
 _Dai-chan 14:32_

 **-Alright I'm coming to get you stay where you are**  
 **Satsuki 14:33**

 _-When I was talking to Iwahara Kizuki's cousin I found out who the murderer was._  
 _Dai-chan 14:33_

 **-Which murderer?**  
 **Satsuki 14:34**

 _-Prefecture Case murderer_  
 _Dai-chan 14:34_

- **Who is it**  
 **Satsuki 14:35**

 **-Dai-chan?**  
 **Satsuki 14:36**

 _-Tetsu_  
 _Dai-chan 14:38_

 _#_

Kagami took a step backwards as Kuroko advanced towards him. So that was the thud he'd heard when he was downstairs. The thud of a body falling to the ground. He felt strangely unafraid, if a bit nauseous despite the situation as he picked a a shard of broken porcelain from the ground, slowly backing away towards the stairs. Maybe it was because he didn't really think that Kuroko would hurt him or that he didn't really register that his best friend was a murderer.

He really should call 119 but he was hesitant to, just in case it turned out that Kuroko was a victim as well and had just picked up Akashi's dead body after the murderer had killed him. Kagami knew that it wasn't true, but he still refused to give up on his friend with having absolute confirmation of his guiltiness.

Kuroko took a step forward and Kagami thrust the shard of porcelain in front of him. "Take one more step forward and I can't guarantee this won't end up in your stomach." His hand was violently shaking and a sick feeling was crawling up his throat. They both knew he wouldn't follow through with his threat, he couldn't in this state.  
He was not fearful, he was horrified. Horrified at the sight of one of his friend's dead body dragged along the floor in the hands of the man he would call himself closest to.

Now he wasn't even sure if he'd reached the tip of the iceberg in the mystery that was Kuroko Tetsuya.

#

Midorima's fingers tensed against the wheel as the light turned red in front them. His hand twitched with the urge to throw something and he cursed in annoyance. Their journey back home was taking impossibly long with the congested roads. There had been accident along this road a few hours beforehand and so traffic was barely moving, inching forward at a snail-like pace.

A hand appeared next to him and he reached into the glove compartment to pull out a tissue, which he handed to the hovering hand reaching from the backseat. He turned around to see his sister gently wiping her daughter's face with the tissue, cradling her sleeping form. She had finally fallen asleep after an hour on the road, crying and whimpering as her mother held her. Sometimes as the tears leaked out she would whisper over and over, 'Uncle'.

That was right.

It was Uncle who couldn't save her, who let her go through the traumatising experience while he did nothing. Because he couldn't. Aomine was always one step ahead, always faster. But this time Midorima would block his path to the goal, once and for all. He'd informed the police of Aomine's fake death and they were on alert for him and knew his disguise. He wouldn't be able to hide forever. No matter how fast he ran this time he would always have a shadow following after him.

Waiting, for the right time to pounce.

#

 _Kuroko groggily stumbled through the alley, giggling to himself. He was half leaning on the wall, half somehow stumbling his way to his apartment. On reflection getting smashed in Aomine's party without a ride home was probably not the best idea, especially when said party was broken up at 4am when the police arrived._  
 _However he excused himself for that mistake because he hadn't known that he was a complete lightweight until he started drinking. Kuroko only intended to have one shot but one turned into two, and two turned into three until he was stacking the empty shot glasses in an attempt to make a house. It of course failed miserably but in his drunken state he just laughed and tried again. Kuroko vaguely remembered Aomine coming by sometime during the party and helping him stack the glasses for a short while before someone came and dragged the blue-haired light away._

 _The rest of the night was a blur of noise and lights, until he was dragged out the house by Akashi when the cops arrived. Being the only one still relatively sober by the end of the party Akashi had agreed to drop Aomine and Kuroko home, but after helping him out the house Akashi was nowhere to be seen._

 _But he was fine, Kuroko thought to himself. His house wasn't that far away only a quick walk- SMACK. "Shit." Kuroko cursed, attempting to sit up. "It seems I've fallen over. But it's too dizzy to stand up. And the world is spinning, whoah those are some pretty colours, aren't they guy?"_

 _He turned to the man sitting at the end of the alley, who slowly stood up. If he wasn't so drunk Kuroko might've recognised the distinctive mint green neckerchief around the man's neck as he approached him, or the faint red stain on his shirt._

 _"And what do we have here?" The man murmured, stopping at Kuroko's feet. "A drunk idiot. With blue hair. Who the fuck has blue hair?"_

 _"Me." Kuroko deadpanned._

 _The man rolled his eyes. "Well yes I can see that. Such nice hair it is too." He grabbed a handful of the shadow's hair._

 _Kuroko squirmed slightly. "While I understand how nice it is to touch my hair I would appreciate it if you could let go of it."_

 _"And here I was leaning in real close to give you a clue." The man tutted._

 _"A clue?"_

 _"Was the neckerchief not enough? Or would the scar on my back jog your memory?"_

 _His eyes widened as he came to a sudden realisation. "Y- you're..."_

 _"Sunzen Madara. I like my victims to know who's going to kill them before they die. Courtesy and all that."_

 _Kuroko stumbled to his feet and attempted to run away from the highly profiled serial killer only to fall short as Madara grabbed his arms._

 _"Not so fast. First we're going to have some... fun."_

#  
Kagami kept the porcelain shard in front of him as he gripped the phone in his back pocket. To call or not to call. He bit his lip, struggling with the situation. The police would be able to handle this, they could find out if Kuroko had actually killed Akashi and or not.

He drew his phone out and with one hand turned it on.

"Don't." Kuroko's eyes flashed dangerously as he stalked towards Kagami. "Don't you dare call anyone."

He dropped the corpse just as Kagami turned and ran down the stairs tripping numerous times in his haste. "Wait!" He felt something grab the back of his shirt and pull him back. He landed with his back on the stairs, Kuroko looming over him.

The shadow grabbed the phone in Kagami's hands. "Kagami-kun let go of the phone."

Kagami hissed in reply, choosing not to talk.

"Kagami-kun don't make me repeat myself." Kuroko threatened through gritted teeth as he struggled to release the phone from Kagami's grip.

Kagami yelled as Kuroko used his free hand to smash Kagami's elbow against the banister. Still the light refused to give the phone up. "KAGAMI!"

Kuroko's hand tensed against the phone. He leaned closer to his former light, enough so that his blue locks brushed against the other's forehead. "Now you've gone and forced my hand."

He reached behind Kagami to grasp the forgotten shard of porcelain dropped in favour of his phone. Kagami's eyes widened as he realised what Kuroko was reaching for.

"No- "

"I didn't want to do this."

BANG! Both heads turned towards the apartment door where the new arrival had burst in.

"Kuroko get away from him!"


End file.
